The grandest of men the world has e'er known
In all of its checkered career,
From cottage to palace, from workshop to throne,
In ages afar or anear,
Is he who now hears me, the soldier so true
With heart beating loyally yet,
The glorious old soldier who still wears the blue,
The old Pottawattamie vet.
No Grecian or Roman can with him compare,
Who fought in the brave days of old.
No Englishman, Frenchman, Russian or Dane,
Who in the dread contest have met,
The equal you cannot discern in the train
Of an Old Pottawattamie vet
He fought for his country, the best in the world,
For freedom and union and right,
A banner whose equal was never unfurled,
That glistens like stars of the night.
He conquered, and homeward he marched in his pride,
Having placed the whole world in his debt;
Let a halo of glory forever abide
On the old Pottawattamie vet.
God bless him; God bless him, and long may he live,
And his days full of happiness be;
Oh, long may he live his blessing to give
The land of the brave and the free.
Oh, long may he live to hear his praise sung,
And then when his sun shall have set,
May the praises be rung by many a tongue
Of the old Pottawattamie vet.
[Written by Rev. George W. Croft, August 28, 1896, submitted by Ann]